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Transcript of What is Testing?

What is Testing?Why do we test?How do we test?Testing is questioning a productin order to evaluate it.Software testing is a technical investigationfor the purpose of revealing the qualityof a software producton behalf of stakeholders.If you don't have an understanding and an agreement on what is the mission of your testing, how can you know what to look for?

What information is important?What is Quality?Quality is "value to some person(s)" - Jerry Weinberg"...who matter." - James Bach and Michael BoltonWho matters?Testers provide a serviceA bug is anything that threatens this valueChecking vs. TestingChecking (should|could) be automatedQuality Assurance?

I don't think so.Automation is quick and precise...... humans, not so much.Sapient TestingRequires a thinking humanNot just repeatable, but adaptableNot just Pass or Fail, but "is there a problem here?"Takes skill and knowledgeTesters = Skilled Investigators!(Think CSI... without the Armani suits)OraclesAn oracle is the principle or mechanism by which you recognize a problem.True oracles are too complex (if at all possible).Heuristic oracles are fallible methods for solvinga problem or making a decision.HICCUPPSProject : CIDTESTDProduct : SFDEPOTQuality : CRUSSPICDevelopment : STMPLCIDTESTDSFDEPOTCRUSSPICSTMPLSkills&Knowledge?Investigative reporters and journalists- What's actually going on? What's the story?Anthropologists- What do people in the real world do?Historians- What can we learn from the past?Field botanists- Why does this thrive over here, but not over there?Philosophers- What do we know? - How do we know we know it?Film critics- Will this movie appeal to its intended audience?Critical ThinkingGeneral Systems ThinkingDesign of ExperimentsVisualization & PresentationObservationReportingRapid LearningProgrammingMeasurementAnthropologyTeachingRisk AnalysisCognitive PsychologyEpistemologyThe material used for this presentation is mainly taken from the RST slides by James Bach and Michael Bolton, its appendices, and the presentation "Testers: get Out of the Quality Assurance Business". For the whole, and better picture you better go to the source: